no icons, no taskbar, everything written in symbols

[magicstorm3]

I was having a problem originally with a card program i had that worked
fine the day before so i did a system restore and when the computer
restarted everything came up written in symbols and it said this was
not a genuine windows copy when it has been working fine forever. I
barely can read anything cuz its all in symbols. i only can get to my
wallpaper and thats it....the internet will not load up and there are
no icons or start button. In safe mode, it just goes to a black
desktop. and i tried last known configuration and that didnt work. i
feel like i tried everything. i do not have the xp recovery cd, if
there was one because someone gave me this computer and did not give me
that. Is there anything at all i can do or am i totally screwed. and
if so, can i just reinstall a fresh windows xp?

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

I was having a problem originally with a card program i had that worked
fine the day before so i did a system restore and when the computer
restarted everything came up written in symbols and it said this was
not a genuine windows copy when it has been working fine forever. I
barely can read anything cuz its all in symbols. i only can get to my
wallpaper and thats it....the internet will not load up and there are
no icons or start button. In safe mode, it just goes to a black
desktop. and i tried last known configuration and that didnt work. i
feel like i tried everything. i do not have the xp recovery cd, if
there was one because someone gave me this computer and did not give me
that. Is there anything at all i can do or am i totally screwed. and
if so, can i just reinstall a fresh windows xp?

You could probably do a repair install from a real copy of windows
(usually works, without destroying installed programs). You could also
try another system restore (back to the restore point made when you did
the first one - system restore always (tries to!) sets a restore point)
then un-install the card program, and then re-install it. If it works
that'll be cheaper than a new copy of XP. And then go make a backup of
your system someplace, if you don't have any other way of restoring it.

 

[Rock]

I was having a problem originally with a card program i had that worked
fine the day before so i did a system restore and when the computer
restarted everything came up written in symbols and it said this was
not a genuine windows copy when it has been working fine forever. I
barely can read anything cuz its all in symbols. i only can get to my
wallpaper and thats it....the internet will not load up and there are
no icons or start button. In safe mode, it just goes to a black
desktop. and i tried last known configuration and that didnt work. i
feel like i tried everything. i do not have the xp recovery cd, if
there was one because someone gave me this computer and did not give me
that. Is there anything at all i can do or am i totally screwed. and
if so, can i just reinstall a fresh windows xp?

From the Advanced Options menu (where you can select to get into Safe Mode)
choose safe mode with command prompt. If that then displays a command line
try running system restore to undo the last restore. Type this into the
command line:
c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

If that doesn't work you'll need to either do a repair install with the same
type of XP installation CD that's on your system or a clean install.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

If you need to backup any data before doing a clean install, first put the
drive as a slave drive in another windows XP computer and copy the important
data. You may need to take ownership of some of the files and folders to do
so.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

 

[magicstorm3]

I TRIED TO unrestore the last restore but that didnt work. I havent
gotten a cd from someone yet to try a repair install so hopefully that
will work....otherwise, i will cry!!

 

[magicstorm3]

I TRIED TO unrestore the last restore but that didnt work. I havent
gotten a cd from someone yet to try a repair install so hopefully that
will work....otherwise, i will cry!!

 

[Rock]

I TRIED TO unrestore the last restore but that didnt work. I havent
gotten a cd from someone yet to try a repair install so hopefully that
will work....otherwise, i will cry!!

Ok good luck.